NURSES at Southend Hospital are reportedly facing £2,000 tax bills due to a payroll issue, according to one worried midwife. 

The midwife, who asked to remain anonymous, claims she and “hundreds” of other staff at the hospital have been hit with huge HMRC bills. 

She says nurses who took up an offer of extra pay during the pandemic are now being asked to pay bills worth thousands of pounds. 

The midwife claims the issue is down to a problem with the payroll system, with hospital bosses insisting they are doing all they can to resolve the issue. 

“We all worked ourselves to death covering extra shifts during the pandemic, however, we were being paid more so deemed it worthwhile,” the midwife told the Echo.

“Unfortunately, hundreds of us have now been landed with huge tax bills because the payroll department messed up our tax codes.

“We were told it was an issue for HMRC but when any of us finally got through to HMRC, they stated it was for our payroll team to sort out.

“This has been going back and forth for months and still neither department have taken responsibility.”

She added: “I received a notification on Friday from HMRC stating I now owe them £1,623. Others have been issued with demands for over £2,000.

“None of us can pay this without suffering even more financial hardship.

“I feel so despondent, and many fantastic midwives are leaving a job they worked hard to get and truly love due to being unable to tolerate this treatment any longer.”

A spokesman for the Mid and South Essex Trust, which runs Southend Hospital, said:

“We are aware of a small number of cases where HMRC have issued tax code changes to some of our employees which have impacted their net pay, and the trust understands that this is concerning.

“We will also be in contact with this midwife to see how we can help her further.

“Whilst we cannot comment on individual cases, we are doing all we can to support affected staff, including escalating this matter to HMRC.”

A spokesman for HMRC added they are unable to comment on individual cases but said it would work with employers and employees.